Steering wonder

[RWherley]

Dad has a 2004, 3500 DRW, and the steering just wonders off and you have to counter street to catch it. The truck has 560K on it, but I have just this week replaced the upper and lower ball joints on both sides, the drag link end at the pitman arm, the bushings in the track bar, replacement bushings are energy suspension ploy ones, and just put a steering gear box on it last night, the new gear box is 6 bolt update from Red head steering. Other front end upgrades include a BD DIESEL steering box stabilizer brace, and BD HD sway bar end links, the Mopar steering linkage update to give it the 08 and newer style system and Yukon free spin conversion kit. Any thoughts??

 

[Yo Hoot]

These front ends are a *****. I've sunk thousands into mine. Got Carli joints on the way. I have loads of aftermarket on mine. Track bar and ujoints are a big one.

 

[cerberusiam]

Does it steer any better after the replacement parts? Next step would be an alignment and set toe in as small as possible. Shocks would be next, if they ain't newer and Bilsteins or King or Fox they are likely junk or just not adequate.

Tires next. If they are the cheap under rated 17's with many miles a lot of steering issues come from tires. Good tires correctly rated with, good alignment, and good shocks will drive fine even with a lot of wear in the suspension\steering components.

Better track bar ends will cure a lot problems. The typical poly replacements are too soft, after a while you get way too much movement out of the axle.

These front ends are really not that hard to make work if you get them setup correctly. If you have to replace all the parts it can get expensive but every HD truck is that way.

 

[RWherley]

The tires are 245/70-19.5 Firestone FD690 with a 14 ply rating, after this round of repairs there was only a little difference cause of the drag link end. What do you consider better track bar ends? We've used energy suspension bushings before with no issues. Maybe I'm stupid but how do shocks affect side to side movement of the axles?

 

[AEdelheit]

Definitely get the alignment done first but sounds like brand new parts that are very tight and sticky. When steering joints are tight the steering will not naturally return to center all the way so you have to correct it back but usually overcorrect so then the you are always chasing the steering steering side to side, I would get some miles on it and see if it loosens up.

 

[cerberusiam]

If the wander was there before the parts replacement then it isn't memory steer. Get an alignment to see if toe is off, that will causing many issues.

If you are getting wander when the wheel is centered then it is alignment or something causing the axle to move. That is a problem with the t-type steering due to the dead spot at center allowing the steering to get a run at moving off center, but, something is causing it to shift off center.

Lay under the front of the truck and watch the axle move when at rest and someone is turning the wheel back and forth. If the track bar ends are moving in the bushings you will have as much or more going down the road.

Control arm bushings bad can also cause the axle to walk around along with the shocks allowing to fast or too much movement at a time. Depending on the road if the shocks do not handle the bumps well it cause the axle to move which translate to the steering and pulling it off just enough to start a wander. If the control arms are in a bind or seize then you get some weird reactions to the forces on the suspension and steering.

 

[AEdelheit]

If the wander was there before the parts replacement then it isn't memory steer.

Its often hard for someone to tell the difference, seen it happen many times before.

 

[avvblanc01]

What you're describing to me sounds like there's play in the front end, mixed with new ball joints. New joints are alway stick and don't return to center until they break in, and mixed with play in other parts of the steering, causes exactly what you're describing! I made this video that helps people diagnose steering play and wander:


My two cents is to let the joints break in, and then replace whatever else is causing play! I'd recommend doing a quality replacement track bar instead of new bushings in the factory unit, since those go bad quickly. I've been very happy with my Carli track bar!

 

[AEdelheit]

What you're describing to me sounds like there's play in the front end, mixed with new ball joints. New joints are alway stick and don't return to center until they break in, and mixed with play in other parts of the steering, causes exactly what you're describing! I made this video that helps people diagnose steering play and wander:
My two cents is to let the joints break in, and then replace whatever else is causing play! I'd recommend doing a quality replacement track bar instead of new bushings in the factory unit, since those go bad quickly. I've been very happy with my Carli track bar!

Oh Hey Paul JR !!!!

 

[avvblanc01]

Uh oh, am I really that abrasive?? haha

 

[RWherley]

Well I got a front end alignment done then drove the truck 4500 miles round trip to Montana and back and it's slightly better then it was still not right, when they did the alignment the other rod ends were good but the adjuster sleeves were rusted solid so the replaced the rest of rods with TRW parts. I just changed the bushings in the 4 link arms, we'll see what that dose

 

[RWherley]

I might be wrong but I don't think it's ball joint memory, I could see that if the issue was coming out of a turn and it got weird, but you can be going perfectly straight down a good smooth road and the truck will decide " I'm going to the right now" then after a quick counter steer it'll be ok for a little bit